Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-03-05
MY F1Rsr seuIRREL-HuNr.


not be told what fun there is in hunting
squirrels 1t is just the kind of game for
boy. But in order that | may be more at
home with my young readers, and to place
myself, as the spiritualists say, en- rapport
with my audience, / will be little more
explicit, else they may place themselves
upon the argumentative, as did John Chi
naman at the mission school. When told
told to spell man." he answered, witch
man you mean, Chinaman, Mclean man
Ilishman ?" 1t will therefore be necessary
for me to specify the genus rodent we are
about to hunt. The squirrel family is nu-
merous and varied, They are found in all
parts of the world except it may be, some
remote islands of the sea, and are generally
as abundant as they are widely distributed.
In the United States there are about twenty
different kinds; but without stopping to
enumerate, let me introduce the one
that is 10 claim our attention-the
Chickaree, the genuine Yankee squirrel.
He is a shrewd, lively, industrious little
fellow; fat, sleek and smooth conceited,
viyacious, impertinent little rascal, always
looking out for number one;" the shyest,
nimblest little rogue that ever danced upon
rail fence with a stolen apple in his
mouth. And what a vocabulary is his
How often have | seen him perched upon
the limb of tree, his bushy tail Jerking
spasmodically as with head bent low he
has delivered with nonchalant imperti-
hence his opinion Of boy or dog passing
by. No chance for colloquy with him I
No getting word in edgewavs till he was
donel INDUCING fertile imagination |
can hear him now with his chickaree-
-chicker-r-r-r-r-rm No sound
could arouse me in boyhood ike that IA
miliar harangue. But to my tale
1t was forty years ago, away in the State
of Maine, the home of my boyhood, and,
of course, on farm. The Yankee farmer
does not till broad fields as does the Cali
fornia rancher. An acre of corn two of
potatoes, and as many of oats and wheat
make up in autumn the sum of his stores
for cellar and granary ana if he can make
shift to get out a few loads of shingles,
slaves or hoop-poles, he takes care to do so
in evenings in rainy days, and in the in
tervals while the craps are growin.n
The potatoes and corn had been hoed,
and the haying season had not yet come,
but no time must be lost. :" Now said
my father to my two elder brothers, well
go into the woods aud get out load of
shingles And in not much longer time
than it takes to relate it-for no grass
could grow under foot in those days-three
men and boy were vending their way
towards the cedar berth in the woods
beyond the back field each bearing his
load-the shave horse, the cross-cut saw,
the ak, the maui or the frow | carried
the frow, for it somehow just fitted my
shoulder. The camp" was made, a tree
felled, sawed and riyen, and business pro-
crossed. /, being a lad of about s years,
was not expected to make hand" |
could ride the bolt +" when the saw
pinched, but there my utility ended-un-
I'll it was time to eat the luncheon. when |
counted as one" as long as the apple
sass " held out. We had not been long in
camp when squirrel began to pay us reg
ular visits, and, perching upon a tall
stump. discoursed very glibly upon the i'm
pertinence of the intruders who were max
ing such a racket within his sacred precincts.
He was gamy little fellow with his small
bright eyes and big bushy tail, and began
to wish that could get him; so | set my
boyish ingenuity at work to devise some
means whereby he could be bagged. | was
not long in hi ting upon plan. climbed
! a spruce-sapling, and, with my jack-knife
cut off a straight, slender limb which
whitfield into a bow. tWhittling is an i'm
portant factor in a boys education in
Yankeeland.) l then cut little birch
twig land the BIRCH too, is an educator
used as a bow-string. From a piece of a
binder" / also Whitfield an arrow, and
then my accoutrements were complete.
, had become quite expert with bow and
arrow, and thus armed | felt confident of
1 success. / placed myself in ambush at a
convenient distance and waited patiently
for Mr.. Squirrels return. 1t was a long
time, or so it seemed, but he came at last
and again perched upon the stump. Thea
I came an exciting moment. Ny heart went
. pit-a-pat as drew the bow and took aim
/ He had just commenced his accustomed
} harangue as the bow-string twanged
I Chickaree- chickaree-chick |" I've got
i'm I've got i'm L shouted, as skipped
| to the spot where he lay.
| I shall never forget my feelings of pride
over that exploit. In later wears, with nv
fayorite Winchester rife, l have made
/ many monarch of the glen bite the
dust but as | now look over the past and
consider the scope of each individual
effort, [ count my greatest triumph to be
the bringing down of that squirrel with
weapons constructed by my own hand.
isolate the act and the end did not Justify
+ the means. And, taking a woman's view
! of it. there wss cruelty exhibited in putting
/ TO death harmless little animal but the
accomplishing of the feat developed fuel
for the fires of vaulting ambition, and
the arrow that sped obedient to an unerring
aim was the key that opened the way to
life's endless possibilities
/ have often thought in these days, when
machinery furnishes an almost endless
variety of toys for the young, that check
upon the energies is held by the law Of
: compensation, and that fancy is pampered
/ at the expense of the will. Let Young
America remember that through his veins
courses the best blood in the world-the
| Anglo-Saxon with its refining Norman
strain. Its Utmost quality is force its
clearest exponent individuality. The crest
Of an old Norseman was pickax with the
motto, I'm find way or make onen Let
every boy bear in mind the old adage,
Where there's viii there's a way As
for me, whenever I am confronted with
barriers or encompassed by difficulties, /
draw no little strength of purpose from my
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